A Perfect Storm(46)

There'd be pleasure. She'd seen plenty of movies, talked to lots of people.

And she knew how Jackson and Alani behaved with each other. Dare and  Molly. Trace and Priss. They sure liked getting up close and personal.

Very soon that'd be her. With Spencer.

She closed her eyes as sensation swelled inside her, sweeter, hotter.

But he wanted her to wait?

Screw that.

She plopped the now-empty coffee mug down on the table and started down  the hall. Along the way, huffing fast with need, she peeled off her  shirt and then paused long enough to push off her shorts. Reaching up,  she pulled the cloth-covered rubber band from her hair and it tumbled  down her back.

Still in panties, she knocked at the bathroom door.

Spencer said, "Yeah?" as he opened the door for her.

Shock kept him still for a heartbeat, then his gaze dropped fast, moving all over her. He inhaled, and his face tightened.

A white towel circled his hips, another hung around his neck. Steam  wafted upward, caressing his damp skin. He'd just finished shaving.

They stared at each other.

Or more precisely, he stared at her boobs, and she stared at that happy  trail of dark, fine hair that disappeared into the towel.

Without looking away from her, he put aside his razor and, taking the  towel from around his neck, wiped the remaining shaving cream off his  face. He discarded the towel on the floor.

Licking her lips, Arizona reached out, hooked her fingertips into the  other towel, and pulled it away from his body. It hung loose in her  hand.

Holy smokes, he hadn't been kidding. He really did want her.

The man was impressive-in all ways. "You're big."

"Yes."

He sounded awfully cavalier about it. "So … " She couldn't get her gaze off his jutting erection. "Looks like you're ready, too."

"I've been ready since the day I met you."

What a relief, since she'd felt the same. Oh, she'd done her best to ignore it. But not anymore.

She let the towel slip from her fingers. "That's … nice."

His hands fisted. "You're not afraid?"

"Nope." Anxious, needy, desperate even, but not afraid. She met his gaze. "Not with you."

Some sharp emotion brightened his eyes. "At all uncertain?" He brought  her face up. "Because, baby, I know you were uncertain earlier."

Ah, so that's why he'd suggested the shower and the coffee and the excruciating delay? For her.

What a guy. "Yeah, I guess I was. A little."

"I don't want you to be." Still he didn't touch her. "Not at all."

"I'm not anymore." A little shakily, she added, "Honest to God, Spencer,  I appreciate the concern. I really do. But I don't think I can wait a  single second more."

He nodded-and continued to resist. "Has any man ever spent his time just kissing you?"

"No." Her heart beat so hard it hurt. "Thank God."

He took a step closer. "Has any man ever touched you, just for you? Just to make you feel good?"

"Of course not. Men don't-"

"Shh." Calm personified, he pressed a warm kiss to her mouth. Slow, lingering.

As he drew away, Arizona lifted her heavy lashes, took a breath and whispered, "Damn."

Wearing a half smile, Spencer closed in for another kiss, a little hungrier, a little less cautious.

Now, that was more like it. Her breath shuddered in, came out in a sigh. "Oh, hell."

He caught on to her game. "Are you asking for another kiss, honey?"

"That's the deal, right?" She leaned into him, her mouth almost touching his. "For every curse-"

"Yes, that's the deal."

"Well, I know a lot of curses." She played her hand down his chest, over  to his side. God, she loved the feel of him. "So what's it to be,  Spence? Should I singe your ears, or do you just want to-"                       
       
           



       

His mouth settled over hers without reserve. And she accepted with a  hardy groan, clinging hands and the press of her body to his.

"Spencer … "

He drew her in closer. "Tell me what you want."

"This is all so curious."

"This?"

"Sex." She turned her head to meet his gaze. "I gotta admit, until you, I hadn't been a fan of the idea."

"I know." Pain filled his gaze. "I'm sorry."

"Wasn't your doing, now, was it?" She leaned into him, enjoying his  strength, his heat. His appeal. "But with you? I dunno. You make me feel  funny."

His big, hot hand opened over her belly. "Here?"

"Yeah." She pressed her hand over his, absorbing the warmth of his palm while breathing in his delicious male scent.

"Funny, how? Tell me."

"All warm and … slippery."

He bit off a groan. "Perfect. That's exactly how I want you to feel."

"And how should you feel?" Teasing, anxious to touch him, she reached for his erection.

He caught her wrists and held her hands away.

"Spencer?" He looked pained. He looked … stoic.

A heartbeat of silence passed. "Let me show you, okay?"

Something in the way he said that made uncertainty take hold. "Whoa." She stepped back from him. "Show me what?"

With shaking hands he smoothed back her hair. "How good it can be for you."

"But not for you?"

"No matter what, I'm going to enjoy this, too. Never doubt it."

Shaking on the inside, she tucked in her chin. "This?"

Firm, he said, "Giving you pleasure. Taking you to orgasm."

No freaking way. "What, with you all uninvolved and stuff, and me being  some sort of a sacrifice?" He had to be joking. She shoved against his  chest. "Thanks, but no thanks."

He caught her to him. "It wouldn't be like that."

"I want you inside me, damn you. I want you with me all the way."

Breathing harder, he locked his jaw. "I can hold off, Arizona. I can do what's right-for both of us. But not if you … "

"Well, I am!" Humiliation washed over her. She gave him another hard  shove and finally freed herself. "I'm not a damn project for you to work  on!"

"I didn't-"

"I'm not playing this stupid game of yours. Either you want me, or you  don't." Thumb to her naked chest, she shouted, "I'm an all-or-nothing  woman."

More than a little aware of her nudity, she turned to depart on a dramatic exit.

Before she'd even taken a full step, he pulled her back around and  scooped her up against him. His own measure of frustration deepened his  voice, sharpened his tone. "Your stipulations mean you aren't  all-or-nothing."

"So instead of calling them stipulations, just call them a fetish." She  went on tiptoe, leaning into his anger. "Lots of people like to take  control in bed."

"It's not the same thing and you know it."

Deflated, hurt, she muttered, "I wanted to feel you inside me. I wanted  to be a part of you." Tears burned her eyes, scalding her with  humiliation. "Thanks for nothing."

He breathed hard, his nostrils flared, his eyes bright. "I tried, Arizona. God knows I did."

She started to tell him to go to hell, but his mouth landed on hers, not tentative, not gentle, but hungry and demanding.

Suddenly on fire, she groaned her approval and clenched her hands on his shoulders.

He stroked down her back to her rear, lifted her up and pulled her in  snug against his erection. Against her lips, he said, "I need you,  Arizona. Right now."

Ah, now this was what she'd wanted. She could handle the overwhelming  physical stuff better than all that knee-weakening emotion or, God  forbid, his nobility. "You have a funny way of showing it."

"I'm sorry." He lifted her completely off her feet, and she just naturally wrapped her legs around his waist. "Arizona … "

"I've got you now." She knotted her fingers in his damp hair and said with carnal demand, "Kiss me again."

"I will." He licked her neck, drew her skin in against his teeth. "But, remember, you have to trust me."

"I do." She moaned, squeezed him tighter. When had her neck gotten so damned sensitive? "If you even think about-"

"I won't." And then, resigned to his fate: "I can't." He kissed her mouth again, devouring her, his tongue bold.                       
       
           



       

He tasted so incredibly good that Arizona didn't realize he'd headed for  the bedroom until he stretched out on the mattress, her atop him. Since  her legs had been around him, she ended up straddling him, her knees  pulled up along his sides.

Keeping one hand on her head, he moved the other down her spine-and into her underwear.

Startled, she made to straighten her legs, but he said, "No, leave them  open. Let me touch you." And then with a growl, "I need to touch you."